Oct. 22 (UPI) — Georgia’s Supreme Court has rejected a Republican-led effort to reinstate seven new election rules, approved by the State Election Board, before Election Day as early voting is underway in the battleground state.
In a one-page order issued Tuesday, the court declined — in a unanimous decision — to reinstate the rules, while also declining a motion for an expedited appeal.
While the court did not reject the appeal, it declined to fast forward the proceedings.
“When the appeal is docketed in this court, it will proceed in the ordinary course,” the justices wrote.
Tuesday’s decision in Georgia is a victory for Democrats, who filed lawsuits against the rules that Republicans had requested be revived.
The rules would have required election officials to hand-count the number of ballots at each polling place and would have required after-hour surveillance of drop boxes at early voting locations.
Democrats argued that a hand count would delay the election results and that new rules, being implemented so close to the election, would not allow time to train election workers.